We are a grass roots organization located in both Israel and the United States. Our intention is to be pro-active on behalf of Israel. This means we will identify the topics that need examination, analysis and promotion. Our intention is to write accurately what is going on here in Israel rather than react to the anti-Israel media pieces that comprise most of today's media outlets.

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Britain Outlaws Forced Marriage

"The challenges are in terms of
giving evidence, particularly where the perpetrators may be those who
are close to them i.e. family members, and the coercion and pressure
that they may be subjected to in terms of withdrawing [the complaint]." —
Aisha Gill, University of Roehampton.
The number of children who called ChildLine (free, 24-hour phone
counselling for young people) over concerns that they could be forced
into marriage nearly tripled in 2013. About one-quarter of those who
contacted ChildLine were aged 12 to 15.
"Families pay bounty hunters [to track down the victims of forced
marriage who try to run away]. We have cases where the family paid more
than £100,000 [€125,000; $170,000] to track someone down and kill them."
— Diana Nammi, Director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights
Organization (representing women from the Middle East, North Africa and
south Asia).

A new law has come into effect in England and Wales that makes it a crime to force people into an unwanted marriage.
Advocates of the law say it represents a benchmark shift in thinking
because—after decades of kowtowing to multicultural
sensitivities—British policymakers now view forced marriage as a gross
violation of human rights rather than a socially acceptable cultural
difference. They also say the law will create a deterrent effect because
many perpetrators will fear criminal prosecution.
Skeptics counter that the new law is retrograde and will drive
victims underground due to fears that family members will be
criminalized and sent to prison.
The new law, which entered into effect on June 16, makes forced
marriage a self-standing criminal offense in England and Wales (the law
does not extend to Northern Ireland and will be introduced in Scotland
at a later date) and is punishable by up to seven years in prison.
The law also makes it a crime to breach a so-called Forced Marriage Protection Order
(issued by courts to prevent people from being married against their
will) in England and Wales, in line with Scotland where this is already
the case. This crime now carries a penalty of up to five years in
prison.
In addition, the law makes it a crime to take a British national
overseas with the intention of forcing them to wed, even if the forced
marriage does not ultimately take place. It is estimated that every
year, hundreds of British girls are being taken out of school and flown
abroad to be married, sometimes to men who may be two or three times
their age.
Formally known as the Anti-Social Behavior, Crime and Policing Act of 2014,
the law defines forced marriage as the use of "violence, threats or any
other form of coercion for the purpose of causing another person to
enter into a marriage ... without free and full consent."
The exact number of victims of forced marriage in Britain remains
unknown. Research commissioned by the UK Department of Education
estimates that between 5,000 and 8,000
young women in Britain are the victims of forced marriages each year.
But some charities say the actual number is far higher because many
victims are afraid to come forward.

An
image from the video "Right to choose: Spotting the signs of forced
marriage - Nayana", produced by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth
Office.

In 2013, 1,302 victims of forced marriage sought help from the Forced Marriage Unit,
a special agency established by the British government. Some 82% of
victims were female and 18% male, while 15% were under the age of 15.
The forced marriage cases in 2013 involved 74 different countries,
with 43% relating to Pakistan, 11% to India and 10% to Bangladesh. Most
of the other cases involved Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Morocco,
Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Tunisia and Yemen.
Reaction to the new legislation has been mixed. Anti-forced marriage
groups, which have pressed the government for years to take meaningful
action to stop the practice, have hailed the move.
Aneeta Prem, director of Freedom Charity, which educates young people about forced marriage, told the BBC that the law sends out a "powerful message that this indefensible abuse of human rights will not be tolerated."
"In the most tragic cases, people forced into marriage become
domestic slaves by day and sexual slaves by night," Prem added.
"Everyone should have the freedom to choose."
Jasvinder Sanghera of the Karma Nirvana charity, which supports victims of honor crimes and forced marriage, told the BBC that it was a "historical day and the right move" and that it was important for victims to report any abuse.
But others say the new law could end up deterring people from coming forward. Shereen Williams, director of the Henna Foundation, which supports Muslim victims of forced marriage, told the Telegraph:

"Victims will be very reluctant to take action that could
lead to the imprisonment of their parents or other family members. We
are also concerned that no guidance has been issued to police or the
Crown Prosecution Service on how to implement the new law, meaning
things will continue as they are."

Still others say the law will be difficult to implement. Aisha Gill of the University of Roehampton told the BBC:

"As with any law introduced, it may have unintended
consequences. What we have to do is make sure victims are supported from
the moment they report such an abuse, right the way through the court
process, and post-court process, in terms of the outcome of a criminal
prosecution.
"The challenges are in terms of giving evidence, particularly where
the perpetrators may be those who are close to them i.e. family members,
and the coercion and pressure that they may be subjected to in terms of
withdrawing [the complaint]."

There may be some evidence in support of the skepticism.
In Scotland, for example, where Forced Marriage Protection Orders were introduced into law in 2011, there have been no prosecutions for breaches of the orders since then, suggesting that victims may be reluctant to enforce them.
Separately, an article published in the March 2014 issue of a law journal called International Family Law
examined the case of a young girl who had obtained a Forced Marriage
Protection Order against her mother and her aunt. The two women ignored
the order and went ahead with the wedding anyway. In the end, the girl
was unwilling to initiate proceedings to enforce the order because she
was afraid that her relatives would be imprisoned.
Sanghera of the charity Karma Nirvana estimates that 80% of the Forced Marriage Protection Orders issued in Britain culminate in the victim being returned to the perpetrator.
Meanwhile, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) on June 13 revealed that the number of children who called ChildLine
(a free 24 hour phone counselling service for children and young people
in the UK) over concerns that they could be forced into marriage nearly
tripled during the past three years.
Across Britain, the number of calls to the charity about forced
marriage rose to 141 in 2013, up from 55 in 2011. Around one-quarter of
those who contacted ChildLine about the issue were aged 12 to 15,
according to the NSPCC.
This comes amid reports
that some families have begun hiring bounty hunters to track down the
victims of forced marriage who try to run away. In one instance, parents
in Scotland paid a gang to trace a 17-year-old woman who ran away from
home after she was told she had to marry in Pakistan. The bounty hunters
eventually found her and fearing for her life, she went through with
the wedding in Pakistan.
In an interview with the BBC, Diana Nammi, the director of the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organization
(a British charity representing women and girls from Middle Eastern,
North African and Afghan communities), said: "Victims live in constant
fear. Families pay bounty hunters. It means you never know who the
perpetrator is. We have cases where the family paid more than £100,000
[€125,000; $170,000] to track someone down and kill them."
Not surprisingly, nearly everyone involved in the debate seems to
agree that ending the epidemic of forced marriage in Britain will
require much more than a change in legislation.
The new law is a "huge step forward," said
NSPCC director Ash Chand. "However, there is still much work to be
done. Choosing a life partner is a basic human right ... yet, despite
this, many children and young people are being coerced or even forced to
do so without their consent."
Britain is not the only European country coming to grips with forced
marriage. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, Malta and Norway
have already outlawed the practice.
In addition, 23 European countries have signed, and 11 have ratified, the Council of Europe's Istanbul Convention,
which commits state parties to introduce new laws at the national level
to outlaw forced marriage and other forms of violence against women.
The treaty enters into force on August 1, 2014.

Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-basedGatestone Institute.
He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based
Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him onFacebook and onTwitter.

Caroline Glick & Mark Levin: The Israeli Solution -- A One-State Pla

Why Israel Opposes International Forces in the Jordan Valley

U.S. scholars' group votes in favor of academic boycott of Israel

Yet another indication of the absolute corruption of American academia today. "US scholars' group votes in favor of academic boycott of Israel," from the Jerusalem Post, December 16: NEW YORK – The 5,000-member American Studies Association (ASA), which describes itself as “the nation’s oldest and largest association devoted to...http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/12/us-scholars-group-votes-in-favor-of-academic-boycott-of-israel.html

Israel Living Prophecy

A senior New Israel Fund officer told a U.S. official in 2010 that the disappearance of the Jewish state would not be a tragedy, according to a document that was leaked by Wikileaks...She commented that she believed that in 100 years Israel would be majority Arab and that the disappearance of a Jewish state would not be the tragedy that Israelis fear since it would become more democratic.

Mideast expert Michael Widlanski: Fatah is a joke

US-Israeli talks focus on Ahmadinejad's possible ouster

How to exploit the deep cracks forming in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration for removing the Iranian president was a top item on the agenda of the high-level talks between Barack Obama's advisers and Israeli officials at Mossad headquarters in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, Wednesday, July 29.

DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report that Ahmadinejad's cabinet is falling apart; of his original lineup of 21 ministers, only nine remain at their posts.

The Identity Of The Land

Why the Palestinians need to recognize the Jewish State

We do NOT support a 2-state solution

A January 2009 poll found that Americans oppose creating a Palestinian state by 45-31 percent. A February 2009 Maagar Mohot Survey Institute poll has also shown that Israelis oppose creating a Palestinian state by 51-32 percent.

Many other polls tell a similar story.

These figures suggest that Americans and Israelis have understood that creating a Palestinian state under current conditions will not bring peace but merely another terror state.

Netanya,Israel

Jerusalem At Night

Why reconstruct Gaza without making demands

- that Shalit be release without convicted terrorists being released by Israel in exchange,

- that the US be put in charge of the southern border to ensure that Hamas isn’t rearmed?

- that their three preconditions be accepted by Hamas, i.e. agree to all former agreements,recognize Israel and renounce terror

- that Hamas amend their Charter

- That Hamas disconnect from Iran

The answer is that they don’t want to.

Children of Hamas

Picture of Hamas children the media does not show you

IDF: Civilian Deaths in Gaza Less than 25% of Total

A maximum of 25% of the Palestinians killed in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli operation are innocent civilians, the head of the IDF's Gaza Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA), Col. Moshe Levi, said Wednesday. According to Palestinian medical officials, Israel has killed some 1,000 Palestinians and more than half of them are civilians. Levi said the CLA had compiled a list with the names of 900 Palestinians killed during the fighting. He said that 150 names were of women, children and elderly, and that the maximum number of civilians killed so far was 250. Levi also dismissed claims that 43 Palestinians were killed in an IDF attack on a Hamas terror cell that was firing mortars at Israeli forces from within an UNRWA school in Jabalya. Levi said 21 Palestinians were killed in the attack, including a number of Hamas operatives. (Jerusalem Post)

Hamas teaching the children of Gaza

An Iranian reformist daily newspaper has criticized Hamas "for risking lives of civilians, amongst them children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals." This is reported in today's Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam. The Palestinian daily adds that in response the Iranian government has closed the newspaper.

"The Iranian news agency "Irna" reported yesterday, that the Iranian Culture Ministry has closed the reformist daily newspaper "Karjo Zaran", because it published a report that included criticism of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). On December 30 the paper published a statement of a reformist student organization, that has criticized Hamas for risking lives of civilians, amongst them children, by hiding its forces in nurseries and hospitals. The statement was published whilst the Iranian government expresses a unified stands against Israel, and Tehran is overwhelmed by demonstrations against Israel."

[Al-Ayyam, Jan. 1, 2009] Thanks PMW

Iran-backed Hamas Rocket, Mortar Attacks and Nuclear Developments

9,400+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2003. [1]3,200+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in 2008 alone. [2]6,500+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. [3]543+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israeli territory during the ceasefire from June 19 to Dec. 19, 2008. [4]28 deaths caused by rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001. The dead include Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire ended, Iran-backed Palestinian groups in Gaza fired rockets and mortars that killed an Israeli-Arab construction worker and a mother of four who was seeking shelter in a bus station as a rocket warning siren sounded. [5]1,000+ people in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire, 44 Israelis have been injured and 200 have been treated for shock. [6]Thanks Israel Project

It began with this...

The British Foreign Office, November 2nd, 1917Dear Lord Rothschild,I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate theachievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities inPalestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.2

Signed,Arthur James Balfour[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]

Favorite Books

While Europe Slept

About Me

Semi-retired Professor, now also permanent resident of Israel;divides time between both countries-serves on several Boards of Directors for Israel advocacy groups;Chana, resident of Jerusalem, JCPA member

Syria is an Occupier-Are You Listening World?

As of this minute, Syria occupies at least 177 square miles of Lebanese soil. That you are now reading about it for the first time is as much a scandal as the occupation itself.

The news comes by way of a fact-finding survey of the Lebanese-Syrian border just produced by the International Lebanese Committee for UN Security Council Resolution 1559, an American NGO that has consultative status with the UN. In meticulous detail - supplemented by photographs and satellite images - the authors describe precisely where and how Lebanon has been infiltrated.

Though the land grabs are small affairs individually, they collectively add up to an area amounting to about 4% of Lebanese soil - in U.S. terms, the proportional equivalent of Arizona. Of particular note is that the area of Syrian conquest dwarves that of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms which amount to an area of about 12 square miles.

It would be nice to see the Arab world protest this case of illegal occupation, given its passions about the subject.

Information worth Possessing

"Israel gave the Palestinians an autonomy in 42% of the West Bank and Gaza after the Oslo accords in the early 90's. Over 92% of Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza were then under the administration of the Palestinian Authority and its Chairman Yasser Arafat.

"Israel is surrounded by 10 hostile Arab countries who do not even recognize its right to exist ( Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Lybia, Morocco, Tunisia, Aden) and Iran"